Idris Elba Quotes

I am not a product of privilege, I am a product of opportunity

If you win, if you make money. If you do quality work, then other people of color, whatever color that is, can get in the door.

I wanted to be a leading man - the black lawyer, the black doctor, the black policeman.

There is no obstacle in the path of young people who are poor or members of minority groups that hard work and preparation cannot cure.

The tech and tech media world are meritocracies. To fall back to race as the reason why people don't break out in our wonderful oasis of openness is to do a massive injustice to what we've fought so hard to create.

When I was a kid, my parents never let me use race as an excuse. They'd say, 'When you walk into a room and it's all white, those kids have to work to stand out, not you.'

We have a generation of black actors playing leading roles on film and TV - Idris Elba, Chiwetel Ejiofor - which is great and is breaking the mould.

I believe in a Republic of Merit in which water is allowed to find its own level, where voters, like drivers, are tested before being turned loose.

I have lots of hopes for black actors in general, whether they be on TV or on stage or in movies, and that is that we move beyond the tokenism of what it means to be black in a particular set of circumstances.

Education levels the playing field, allowing everyone to compete.

My father is a taxi driver, and my mother ran a small business. I hadn't even met a barrister before I got my first shot at the legal profession. But back then, I was lucky enough to be given a break - I can't help but wonder if I would be so lucky today.

You really have to prove yourself and prove your worth. I didn't come from family that had been here for generations and had all these connections.

I think O. J. Simpson was a very prominent figure in the African-American community. He was sort of a manifestation of the American dream: 'If it can happen for him, it can happen for me.'

It doesn't matter where you're from. You can be from the hood or the suburbs. You can be poor with no education or a college graduate. No matter your background, you can win.

I was very proud and grateful to be the first African-American woman in the position. I thought it said a lot about our country that we had back-to-back African-American Secretaries of State, Colin Powell and then me. I also thought it said a lot about President Bush that he didn't see limits on the highest ranking diplomat in terms of color. It's a hard job, but really the best one in government.

I am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to play hockey, especially when there weren't equal opportunities as there are now. But at times, it was challenging.

The success of 'Hidden Figures' proves that people are interested in, hungry for, stories about transcendent human experiences.

'Drive for Diversity' puts people behind the wheel that would never have had the opportunity. Nascar sponsors individual teams who have a person of color, somebody who would not have the opportunity otherwise. And then they're noticed by bigger teams - it's like minor-league baseball.

My main priorities were to fight for Britain. Not a lot of Asians get selected for this country at anything, and it's a great achievement.

I want to be in this position for people to be able to see I made it. I'm gay, I made it. You can. Not exactly doing the same thing I'm doing, but if it's a job or school or whatever, you're able to make it.

It's people who look like me, just seeing representation of everyone. I didn't get that when I was young. I only saw one black girl that was on a Disney show, that was known for being the sassy, coocoo, that type of girl.

Everyone in the street where I grew up was given the same message: You can be anything; you can do anything. That wasn't extraordinary; that was ordinary for us. My folks didn't believe in black exceptionalism. There's nothing exceptional about 'You can have that, too' - except when it comes to justice. You can't have that.

In Africa, kids don't look at black athletes and say, 'They're different from us.' They look at them and say, 'That can be me.'

Spike Lee really gave us a platform, men and women of color.

I've not just played for England. I've done it for all the black players out there - to prove that they can do it.